Brussels, 18/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle called on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday 17 April to make further efforts on a number of outstanding issues. Following his meeting with Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, he stated that “an agreed coordination mechanism for EU matters needs to be established as a matter of urgency”. This will ensure that EU rules and standards will be implemented equally across the country and that EU financial assistance will support agreed priorities. He said that the programming of the country's instrument for pre-accession assistance and the implementation of the interim agreement had demonstrated problems of coordination which threatened to paralyse the European integration programme. “I am concerned to see a repetition of last year's events when an agreement could be reached only through intensive interventions by the European Commission”, Füle stated.
The stabilisation and association agreement is close to coming into effect, Sarajevo must, therefore, make credible efforts to bring the constitution into line with the European Convention on Human Rights, the commissioner said, too.
He made it clear that it was “essential” that the authorities ensure effective follow-up to the recommendations set out as part of the EU-Bosnia structured dialogue on justice and that all the reforms undertaken within the framework of the dialogue on visa liberalisation are implemented effectively. Füle also called for the law on the 2012 budget to be passed swiftly.
On Wednesday 18 April, Füle welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Commission, the Council of Europe and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia on the international monitoring operation (IMO) which undertakes to respect and to ensure that the population census and housing in Bosnia are in line with international standards. (CG/transl.rt)